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Americans in Yemen Threatened

Machine-gun mounted military vehicles surrounded a port-side hotel today after a bomb threat was made against Americans that are here investigating the attack on the destroyer Cole.

The American ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, has been staying at the hotel, and the threat was considered serious enough to wake her to inform her early today.

Ms. Bodine has temporarily moved from the embassy in Sana to monitor the investigation.

The Defense Department said on Tuesday that American forces in Bahrain, Qatar and Turkey are on heightened alert because of new evidence of terrorist threats.

In Aden, Yemeni security officials said the telephoned bomb threat from an unknown caller came in around midnight. Yemeni and American security officials held an emergency meeting before dawn and adopted the new security precautions, including preventing civilian traffic from getting within 500 yards of the hotel.

In Washington, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held a video conference with American military commanders around the world, urging them to shore up weak points in troop security. The Oct. 12 attack on the Cole killed 17 sailors and wounded 39 others. Officials believe two suicide bombers maneuvered a small boat next to the destroyer and detonated it.

About 80 F.B.I. evidence technicians had returned home by today after completing their work, said a federal law enforcement official in Washington. More than 20 F.B.I. agents remain in Yemen, the official said.

Attorney General Janet Reno said at a news conference that the experts were leaving Yemen as soon as they completed their work.

Interior Minister Hussein Muhammad Arab said today that the investigation into a grenade attack on the British Embassy in Sana is nearing conclusion. He said a member of the Islamic Jihad who is suspected of throwing the grenade will be referred to the prosecution next week.